Everything tagged: WW2: repatriated 1942 Asama Maru + Gripsholm

Sally Refo was a Presbyterian missionary and teacher.

She was interned in Stanley and repatriated on the Asama Maru/Gripsholm with her husband Henry and four children.

In 1913 he joined the Chinese Maritime Customs, a service he remained with until the war.

During the December 1941 hostilities he was a volunteer driver taking first aid to both civilians and military. After the surrender, he continued as a driver for the uninterned medical and health workers so was never in Stanley.

He was repatriated on the Asama Maru/Gripsholm and resumed his work for the Chinese Nationalist authorities in Washington, D. C.

Sources and more information:

Wife of Herbert H Pommerenke.

Date of birth from the Biographical History at the Finding Aid to the Pommerenke family papers, online at:

http://www.history.pcusa.org/collections/findingaids/fa.cfm?record_id=1…

She gives a brief description of her experiences in Hong Kong on page four of the Perry Herald, Perry, NY on 13 Jan 1943:

A Presbyterian Missionary, he was caught in Hong Kong in 1941 when the Japanese refused permission for him to return to the mission in Hainan:

Brian Edgar writes:

Allman was an American lawyer from Shanghai stuck in HK during the attack. After the repatriation he became head if the Far Eastern Bureau of the OSS (Don's dad's boss?) and later worked for the CIA.

Gwen Dew was an American journalist. In 1936 she began travelling the world, mainly Asia, and writing a popular weekly column about her advenures. She took many photos of the December 1941 hostilities almost all of which have been lost.

She was interned in Stanley after the surrender and repatriated in late June 1942.

In 1948 she married Captain James Buchanan who died five years later.

Source:

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7099766

California resident Norman Briggs was sent to Hong Kong by Standard Oil in August 1941.

During the December fighting he volunteered to work for Food Control. After the surrender he was interned in Stanley until the reaptriation of late JUne 1942.

Soon after being reunited his family he wrote a wartime memoir which was published posthumously in 2006 - Taken in Hong Kong. This provides a detailed and balanced account of the American experience of internment.

The younger daughter of Albert Kato Reiton and his second wife Rose Etta.

She was in Kowloon with her parents and her sister's family (the Hammonds) during the 1941 hostilities and was interned in Stanley until the repatriation of late June 1942.

Source:

Robert Hammond, Bondservants of the Japanese (1942), 1957 ed., 15

Rose Etta Femmer married the Reverend Albert Kato Reiton in January 1913 in the United States. The couple came to Hong Kong that March to work as evangelists. In November 1914 they opened the Yaumati Peniel Misson in Kowloon.

She was in Kowloon with her family during the 1941 hostilities. After a period spent in hiding the were interned in Stanley Camp and repatriated in late June 1942.

She died in Hong Kong in 1957.

Sources:

The Reverend Albert Kato Reiton was an American Protestant missionary.

He married Edna Greer Reiton on November 15, 1909 and the next month they founded the South China Peniel Holiness Mission in Hong Kong. Edna Greer died in Kobe en route to the USA for medical treatment in January 1912 and in January 1913 Reiton married Rose Etta Femmer. The couple returned to Hong Kong in March to work as evangelists. In November 1914 they opened the Yaumati Peniel Misson in Kowloon.